


The Weirdness Arena

by VortexSwirl_24



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bill Cipher Returns, Bill Cipher plays God, Fiddleford is Trying His Best, Ford Pines and Stan Pines getting along, Ford Pines is a Jerk, Foreshadowing, Gen, How Do I Tag, Human Bill Cipher, I spent so long on the summary, I'm Bad At Tagging, Inspired by The Hunger Games, Inspired by Viva La Vida (Coldplay), Its kinda a Hunger Games AU but also isnt, Mabel Pines' Sweaters, Manipulative Bill Cipher, My First AO3 Post, Paranoid Ford Pines, Some Plot, Tags Are Hard, im new to this, like way too long
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26014156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VortexSwirl_24/pseuds/VortexSwirl_24
Summary: The Weirdness Games have begun.All of Gravity Falls is in danger and the ruler is rolling the diceThe event prophecised for billions of years has finally come to pass.And theres one rule.Just one rule.Burned into the cave walls of the ancient beings, a prophecy.And to ignore it can prove fatal in the eye of the Gamemaker.To disobey can tear you from your loved ones and put you in grave danger.Or play by the rule and you may live to tell the tale. That is, if Gamemaker Cipher likes you.No, make that three rules.1)Rules can be shaped and bent to suit the liking of Gamemaster Cipher.2)Beware the dark side of Gamemaker Cipher.3) If hysteria doesnt get you, the trauma will.
Relationships: Dipper Pines & Mabel Pines, Fiddleford H. McGucket & Ford Pines & Stan Pines
Comments: 23
Kudos: 38





	1. The Return of Cipher

Pronologue:  
"MABEL!"  
She was whisked away in a matter of seconds, her body hanging limp in the air as if she were floating. With any luck she was unconscious, not dead. 

The yellow outline of a triangle cackled, watching the fear in the face of his enemies as the world around them descended into hell. Flames blazed around them, fooding their world in an eerie blue light as their beloved town of Gravity Falls was reduced ashes. 

The triangles laugh only grew louder as the world was reborn in colourful embers, purple trees were growing in unusual clusters, red markings were strewn across in a strange order and the day turned to a mysterious night. 

Everyone in Gravity Falls vision turned to solid black, but what they didn't know is what they'd wake up to. Bill began to glow a pulsing yellow light flooded from his heart which spilled over his body until it had covered the whole surface of his previously triangular form as he changed once again. 

But what would he look like this time? Built from igneous stone or fire from the depths of the darker worlds beyond this dimension? Instead of three corners, how about six? 

Gold ignited his eyes as he took on his next nightmarish form, his body morphing in ways not experienceed before. 

"Now everything you know has disappeared" he laughed, a new landscape forming around him. 

"ITS GONNA GET WEIRD!!!" His eyes narrowed to slits and the pulsing golden light exploded, burying the world around him in weirdness and whatnot. 

"THE TIME HAS COME!" He screamed into the light. 

"LET THE WEIRDNESS GAMES BEGIN!!!" 


	2. The New Gravity Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill introduces the citizens, after making a few chaotic adjustments, to their new Gravity Falls and the Pines want answers.

Dipper was one of the first to awaken in the new Gravity Falls, his eyes stinging from the explosion of yellow light. He sat up, slowly gathering snippets of what had happened before his vision turned black.

_"Now everything... disappeared... gonna get weird... Weirdness Games begin..."_

Dipper began to panic, noticing the bubble of blue he was trapped him with a blue Pine Tree symbol marking it. He moved towards it and squinted into the light blue seeing only blurred colours of purples, pinks, red and others all colliding and clashing with each other as if they were battling over prominence. 

Suddenly, the distant voice of a villain he knew all too well spoke, gradually getting louder as the yellow and black blur moved towards him. 

But there was something different.  
Something had changed.

The black and yellow blur wasn't triangular as before but an array of complex shapes that filled Dipper with a nauseating sense of dread. 

_A new form?_

They could barely handle the previous ones! If it weren't for the Stan's idea to switch clothes, trap Bill and erase him with the memory gun, they may not have stopped Weirdmageddon going global nor billions of people worldwide from Bill's Weirdness.

"Hellooooo, Pine Tree!"

Dipper was snatched from his thoughts by the mention of that nickname, shrinking away from the edge of the strange bubble.

"I know you missed me, admit it, Pine Tree, you missed me!"

Dipper began to pound his fist against the bubble, small ripples appearing and disappearing in uneven patterns.

"HARDLY! AFTER YOU TRIED TO DESTROY MY FAMILY? AFTER YOU TRIED TO DESTROY MY FRIENDS?"

"Ya know if you're talking right now I can't hear you 'cause the bubbles's soundproofed, right?" He laughed.

Dipper's anger only grew.

"COME IN HERE AND FACE ME. IF I WERE FREE I'D BREAK EVERY PART OF YOUR FACE YOU DUMB EQUILATERAL-"

"Anyway... its time to begin."

 _To begin? Begin what?_ He thought anxiously watching the black and yellow blur dissolve into the multicoloured sky.

"HELLO GRAVITY FALLS!" he yelled, "As you've probably noticed, I have enclosed you all in a coloured bubble with a distinctive symbol marking it.  
The good news is I'll be letting you go soon. The BAD news, however..." he chuckled to slightly at the thought of their terrified faces at the new remodelled Gravity Falls he had created.

"You should see for yourself"

He pointed finger guns at one of the bubbles with a five-point star making the light blue circle melt away until there was only the body of a trembling child standing in a pool of blue flowing into the lake of water below the cylindrical rock he was standing on, watching the demon with horror and fear staring at the landscape around him.

"So, Gideon, how'd you like the new Gravity Falls? I think its way better than the last one. Weirdness with a drop of chaos is the perfect recipe for disaster!"

But the boy wasn't listening, he was afraid. Afraid of what could happen this time, now that he had returned and wanted nothing more than to ger his revenge on those who opposed his rule and fought against him.

And the Pines family.  
Especially the Pines family.

They'd stopped his nightmarish dreams once and that was the last time they were going to do so.

He pointed towards the other bubbles, melting them at ease as human figures appeared from them. They stood in the melted remains on the rock as the melted bubbles stained the water with their strange colours. 

Looking out of his blue, now-melted, bubble, Dipper saw his friends and family emerging from their circular jails, the symbol turning from a dull grey to a bright white and then melting the bubble. Bedise him was his twin sister Mabel upon her own rock and the fraud psychic beside her. There was a track of rock in front of them, leading to a large group of rocks huddled in the middle of the large lake. In the center there were essential items. 

Food, water, backpacks and... a banjo?

Well at least he had learned some decency since theyd last seen him.

Now, for the fun to begin.

"Hello people of Gravity Falls! I'm sure you're wondering why I've gathered you all here and imprisoned you in these here bubbles"

He snapped his fingers raising a stampede of coloured-bubbles from the ground, each one a slightly different shade to the other.

A plethora of rage-filled questions, petrified screams and anxious mumbling greeted him.

"Bill!"

"We've beaten you three times! How many more until you realise its no use?!

"So wait, my mind was wiped FOR NOTHING?!"

"Huh, does the Never Mind All That Act cover this too? No? Ok, Dood."

"Please, please, the one question at a time. There's only so much of me to go around." he said, looking down on his new world.

"We've defeated you many times before, Bill! How many more times until you realise its no use?

"Yeah! Me, my amazing brother and awesome Grunkles will defeat you again no matter how hard you try to get rid of us!"

"Yes, nice to see you too, Pine Tree, Shooting Star. 

"Why have you returned? How did you survive the Memory Wipe, Bill? And who's body have you stolen to become human?

"Woah there, Sixer. Why don't you relax for once, huh? With all that stress you're gonna have a heart attack!"

Bill waved his hands dismissively at Ford, laughing internally at the dark joke he'd made.

"And I didnt _steal_ anyones body this time, Braniac," he said, "I'm back and human. So stop accusing me of things I haven't done, IQ. Or at least, not yet." 

The now human demon chuckled at the thought. 

"I'll be keeping my two new eyes on you all. Especially you Pines!" he hissed at them, his body glowing a fiery red colour at the last few words. 

"Now, back to the original question before you all so _rudely_ interrupted." He turned his nose up and put his hand to his head exaggerating his offense at the gesture. 

"You have all been imprisoned in an impenetrable sphere, locking those in Gravity Falls inside and others out. No one will be getting in nor out any time soon, thats for sure!" He smiled cheekily, watching the angered and afraid gazes of the people below.

"But wait, what about the mail man? He has a job to do! He can't stay trapped in this landscape!"

"To Hell with the mailman! Oh wait, he's already here!"

"As you're punishment for previously preventing me from gaining world domination and taking Weirdmageddon global, I'm gonna expose you all to tonnes and tonnes of pure, unfiltered WEIRDNESS!

"And if the hysteria doesn't get you first, the trauma will"

Murmurs of fear erupted around the demon. All except one had started to speak with the others, asking questions of concern and expressing the anxiety at the situation.

All but the boy of the 5-point star.

But no one noticed. 

No one noticed the fake psychic anymore.

He was permanently labelled a tresspasser, fraud, liar, tourist-trapper... the list goes on.

And nothing in this world could change that.

So he searched for the answer to his problems in another, much darker, world until he could get what he wanted.

A deal had been made and a hand had been shook.

Now the whole of Gravity Falls was at the hands of the ressurected dream demon, Bill Cipher...


	3. The Wildfires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We catch up with the lives of our favorite characters and a wildfire spreads through the forest, separating our heroes.

"Later, Suckers!" He shouted, tilting his hat and disappearing abrupty, leaving a yellow flicker that eventually died down to small faded mud gold ashes.

Mabel fished out her grappling hook from her sweater pocket, aiming it at one of the unusually tall trees above.  
Screaming at the top of her lungs she yelled, "GRAPPLING HOOK!" speeding quickly through the air and landing on a violet branch with blueish leaves and staring down at the new world before her.

Dipper staired at the colours staining the lake grabbing a nearby stick and dipping it experimentally into the colourful water. The stick changed to a faded grey and turned to a slimy liquid silver. Out of fear, Dipper dropped the silver slime, watching it slowly melting into the lake and disappearing as if nothing had happened. 

Ford watched the colours, observing the strange way it moved, changed colour and returned to it's source. Beside him was his friend, and former assistant, Fiddleford McGucket, panicking and tugging at what remaining hair he had on his head. McGucket had been the one whod said this would happen. Chanting about his return, a different form and different time. Of course no one listened to his prophecies.

Who would listen to a Gravity Falls resident who hadn't been sane for the past 30 years?

Sure, he'd claimed he money from his inventions and now owned the Northwest's Mansion. But that didn't mean people believe he had fully recovered.

If anything, after his vision, that only fuelled the rumours even more saying that he hasn't changed. But you're not supposed to add fuel to the fire.

People still believed that, deep down, he was still the deranged hillbilly of Gravity Falls despite the money he earned from his inventions and the new McGucket Mansion he moved into.

Some, of course, chose to believe he'd evolved beyond his ways and become a fine gentleman. One of which was Ford.

Stan stood watching his great niece above him staring down on them, the sun behind her in such a way that made her look as if she were leading an army in a movie. After the adventure around the world on the Stan O' War II, he'd fought countless creatures across the globe and met many women who turned out to have an alien twist. If it wasn't multiple heads it was a hybrid between human and another creature like a spider.

One thing he learned from this is love can be, and often is, very misleading.

Soos was... Well, happy. He'd been working on the Mystery Shack, making new attractions and living up to the former owner's, Stan Pines', legacy. Melanie had moved into the Shack with him and his Abulita was still going strong. Life was going absolutely great for Soos. He'd made enough money to expand the Shack further to add a Laser-Tag room. After all, it would bring a lot of fun to the whole family.

And Wendy Corduroy. She still wore Dipper's hat in the place of her own. Sometimes she wore it backwards, when the sun wasn't burning her like fire. She decided to take a training course in military, possibly becoming a soldier, police officer or maybe even a spy. 

Who knew! She may even become a Lumberjack like her father, Manly Dan, but Wendy thought her brothers would live up to his name and become Lumberjacks. 

But Wendy wanted something different. Something fun, maybe. Adventurous, daring, dangerous even. She just didn't know what yet.

Gideon had been lonely, McGucket had been... Improving, the Mayor was doing much better than the former one and Gravity Falls had changed for the better.

Still weird, but better. Until of course, Bill returned. 

Suddenly, shimmering lights, burning like shooting stars, rained from the sky making the tall trees erupt with fires. The wildfire spread quickly burning a large cluster of trees before spreading close to where they stood. 

They thought the water would save them.

They were wrong

The melted bubbles of Weirdness seemed to have aggressive reactions to the flames, only fuelling it.

First, there were the screams. The screams of fear and agony. And one of realization. 

It was all set up.

Citizens were running from the blaze but one person wasn't as lucky. 

And there wasn't much surprise that he was left behind as some people believed it was best to put him out of his misery. 

All but one. 

Fiddleford had been burned when the wildfire started, restricting him from walking at all as he lay, paralyzed with shock and fear of the situation.

Ford ran back seeing the man suffering from smoke inhalation and the burns he'd aquired. Stan witnessed what had happened and followed him into the flames. The Stan twins tried to drag Fiddleford away from the fire dancing, jolting out, taunting them as the smoke worked its way into their lungs, making their heads hazy and vision fuzzy as they walked on, trying to find a place of refuge. 

A few meters on, there was a hole with a small stream beside it, indicating that there may be a cave below ground to give them shelter before they were burned alive, killed by smoke inhalation or passed out from exhaustion. 

They'd only made it as the blaze lit up he inside of the cave with a blinding light that burned at their eyes, swearing vengeance as it made it's way over the cave and continued to spread. They'd walked into the cave not thinking of whether it was too shallow or narrow to fit all of them or shelter them from the ongoing wildfires.

What they didn't know was how they'd look walking out.

_______________________

Mabel had called from the tree, saved only by the grappling hook wedging in a branch in the way, winging her to the side and landing on all fours. She tried to retrieve her grappling hook but it wouldn't move from its place.

With sadness, she abandoned it and ran from the fire along with the others, following her brother Dipper away from the embers. They only escaped the fire after crossing the rickety bridge. Fortunately, no one was hurt crossing it, except for the occasional splinter. 

The fire turned into a wall at the bridges begging, stopped by an invisible barrier. It was only when they'd all settled down on a group of fallen trees to assess burns and splinters, Dipper realised something wasn't sitting right until her realised.

"Hey, Mabel..."

"Hmm?" She said, looking at the small wound on her wrist she'd gotten from tumbling out of he tree. 

"I haven't seen the Grunkles or McGucket since the fire started..."


	4. Remember This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fiddleford, Ford and Stan discover the new twist Bill Cipher has made to their appearance and Mabel tries to persuade Dipper not to risk his own life, even if it will save all of Gravity Falls.

Ford had woken up first, the gray haze blurring his vision around him and stinging at his eyes. The smoke from the wildfire was so thick he could barely see his bare hand, now covered almost entirely in ash and dust. 

He slowly rose, his body aching from the quick escape from the fire, practically throwing themselves into the cave to avoid the red and orange flicker burning, suffocating or even killing them.

And Ford wasn't particularly in the mood for being burned alive or suffocated. Not today.

Ford straightened himself out, suddenly feeling more mobile then before, staring at the rays of sunlight leaking into the cave through the strong walls of smoke resisting against it. He could make out two separate silhouettes beside him, one was McGucket, and the other his twin brother Stanley.

Stumbling over, he shook at the dark patch of grey against the wall unsure of who he was trying to awaken when the answer came in the form of a shaky voice.

"Don't ya know what time it is?" McGucket said in a slightly weaker accent than usual.

"No! I don't know what time it is, Fiddleford, we're in the middle of the forest. Two, time is non-existent in a time bubble and three, our clock's have been moving strangely ever since this... Weirdness Arena was it?... started which might have something to do with Bill's unusual magnetism for all things considered weird or extraterrestrial-"

"Where even ar we?" he asked, still pulling himself from the clutches of sleep and avoiding the suffocating amount of information Ford was going to bombard him with.

"Anywhere. Or... Everywhere..." Ford looked to the cave ceiling in silent fear.

The third person rose up, running a hand quickly through their chocolate brown hair and looked to the other shadows he assumed were the two people he entered the cave with.

"So..." Stan said grinning like he'd beaten the smart kid in a maths test, "What's for breakfast?"

_________________

"DIPPERRRRRRRRR" Mabel shouted, wondering where her brother had escaped to since they set up camp beside a lake.

"Yes, Mabel?" he sighed.

"So I was sitting over here wondering about this ant over here with a strange red colour like it was glowing and I thought "hey that looks cool to put in my bug collection" she chuckled nervously, twiddling her index fingers and said, "Points for guessing what happened next" while rolling up her sleeve and revealing a now swollen green bite near the part where the elbow connects to the forearm.

"Mabel... I-"

"Also were _kinda_ running outta food a little and the only source of food we can find nearby is the Convenience Store but that's levitating and noone wants to try to climb the floating steps leading to it in case Bill decides to attack someone or even worse... weird-ify them."

Dipper sat beside his twin sister on the purple flowery bench putting a reassuring arm around her back as she started to cry. She told him about the fear that McGucket, Ford didn't survive the fires, how they'd never escape Bill's Weirdness Arena and never see their parents, their friends, their pets... She didn't even know where Waddles went off to! She was a floodgate and her tears worked at the wall until it finally wore it down, breaking out of it.

"I'll go Mabel."

"Dipper no that's crazy! You could die and I'd never see you again" she said, her voice breaking towards the end of her sentence as she wiped the tears away, protesting against the suicidal mission Dipper wanted to go on. She didn't want to lose both of her Grunkles, McGucket and her brother and best friend. 

"Well if no one else will go then I have to! Hink about it Mabel. Ford and the Journals taught me everything there is to know about Gravity Falls' strangeness. There's bound to have been something that can help us. And we can't live off leaves and bark forever"

Mabel pondered this new view of the situation before nodding her head in acceptance, a new army of tears threatening to break down the barrier that fought and resisted them, never truly eliminating them fully. 

"Thank you for understanding that I have to do this, Mabel. For Gravity Falls?" He held out his fist.

She smiled sadly, the barriers threatening to give way again as Dipper got up and walked towards the sun and back to camp, the sun making look like a being of light, something of another world. A beacon of hope that will save all of Gravity Falls from the of iron rule of the now human Bill Cipher

_____________

Ford decided to walk ahead of the others, checking the outside of the cave for any dangers or risks that Bill could've set up while he was 'up to his usual shenanigans'. Even if he's now taken a more human form, he's still, and will always be, a demon, with not an ounce of humanity in his soul.

Scratch that, not even a drop.

Light poured onto Fords face from outside the grayness of the cave. Most of the smoke had cleared, leaving a net-like vision for him to see through. He could see much further than in the early hours of the morning. 

Gravity Falls had been shrowded in a black, yellow and purple colour, making what was once a 'less than normal town in Oregon' become a 'town that seemed like it came from another universe'

"All right, " Ford said, returning to the darkness of the cave with a grin on his face the others could only see if they looked hard enough. "I don't see any signs of risk or danger nearby. I don't think Bill would be near either considering a fire just broke out".

Stan thought for a second, realising that Fords's voice seemed slightly higher than it usually did. It was such a microscopic change that anyone who wasn't a close friend of his wouldn't realise it. Fiddleford had also gone silent, as if he too had noticed it. 

"Stanferd..." Fiddleford said, realising almost as soon as the words escaped his mouth that his voice had changed too. It was... more 'posh' in contrast to his loud, rasp voice with a extremely thick accent. 

"What about my... voice..." Yes, Stan's voice had also changed for reasons unrevealed to them. They will be completely suprised in a few minutes when they walk outside and notice what mischievous antics Bill has been up to.

Ford made the suggestion that they should move out of the caves and possibly return later on so they could sleep in something close to warmth and rainproof. He said it might've been the smoke affecting the lungs and altering the voice slightly, so getting some fresh air should help to reverse the effects.

They moved outside and the shock of what met them outside wasn't expected at all. But to be shocked means that you weren't expecting the event to happen at all. 

Fiddleford stumbled back in fear, letting out a yelp laced in anguish and suprise at the fact that, in his line of vision, he appeared to be looking in a mirror.

Stan ran to the river, staring at his reflection in a mixture of confusion and well disguised fear. 

Ford, on the other hand, immediately whipped out his new Journal with the number 4 on the front. Flicking through the pages at a speed that meant he could only have been skimming the titles rather than reading any of the writing on the pages. 

"Welp," Ford said, his hand running swiftly through his now dark brown hair. "This is new."

______________________

A common riddle that people are often asked sometimes by a nurse when you're recieving an injection or when you read the side of cereal boxes is 'What goes up but never comes down?'.

In this case, however, it is an exception. An anomoly in the pattern of rules. A result that doesn't fit.

All three of the once elderly men, have had their physical ages reversed to their 30s and bodies swapped however, their mental ages remained untouched. 

They were elderly men with the miraculous opportunity to feel 30 again.

But don't be mislead by this clever trick of deception. Remember this.

This is the vision of Bill Cipher.  
The mind of Bill Cipher.  
The invention of Bill Cipher.

And Bill Cipher's vision is one of pure and utter madness with suffering given to whoever resists against his world. 

This... This is his world  
And in this world, you play by his rules.  
Or face the concequences... 


	5. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper ascends the tower and comes face to face with the one and only.  
> Fiddleford, Stan and Ford try to make sense of what happened to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello uh
> 
> It's been four months
> 
> I don't know what to day

Dipper faced the multicoloured cubes that made some sort of staircase to a large, perfectly spherical circle at the top that looked alot like a bubble, the colours morphing and changing every second. The stairs continued far up, reaching through the clouds reminding him of the Jack and the Beanstalk children's book him and his sister read as children. 

Randomly, a startling thought crossed his mind, making him wander if Bill was the giant who was going to carry out his wicked plan on Jack, who was him, possibly even succeeding in his plans, Jack being the victim suffering at his strengths

Obviously, anything could be awaiting him at the top. But it was probably best to not think about that.

Besides, he was doing this for Gravity Falls. If he dies or returns with two heads well... that was just the sacrifice he had to make.

Making sure that his blue jounal was in his pocket, he began to ascend the boxes, finding the surface he touched turnung blue under his palms and becoming cold only to warm up again.

It was much like touching frost, keeping your hand on the area until the shimmering ice melted at the collision of temperatures. 

He followed a strict, continuous pattern, a rhythm of movement that caused the least amount of struggle possible fear of missing a step and falling to his death plaguing the back of his mind. Forcefully, he pushed those thoughts away, trying to ignore them and continue up the stairs. He would reached two hands up to withstand the cold then hauled himself upwards. Then he would bring his feet to the surface and repeat the whole surface again. 

Dipper was alot taller than he was when he first came to Gravity Falls and alot more adventurous. Sure, he was still some level of a nerd and had no friends apart from his own twin sister but still, he managed. 

After it had become about ten minutes of climbing, Dipper could see the top of the stairs. But with realization hitting him like a high-speed train, he saw that there was a gap in the stairs. 

He would have to try and make the jump. 

Risk his life for the benefits of other people. 

Or fall thousands of feet to his death 

_______________

Ford paced around, frustrated at the thought of not knowing the reason behind the change in their bodies. "I've never come across anything like this. There were those shape shifting beings I met years ago, but they can't change their bodies. Maybe they're a variant..."

"Ford, we're, I'm gonna say 45 years younger than we were before. I don't think any creatures did this. 

"Bill, maybe?" 

"You know, for someone with 12 PhDs, you're very oblivious to the obvious." Stan told him, rolling his eyes with exaggeration. 

"Oh, course this is Bill!" Fiddleford suddenly yelled. "Bill's tryna get into our minds! He's tryna mess with us! Oh, not again! Not again!-"

Fear fought for control in his body. Control to run away. As far as he can . Even if all of Gravity Falls was surrounded in a bubble of weirdness, he wanted to escape it. 

"Fiddleford! Calm down. We need to all think rationally if we're going to find our way out of this area and find the others. But we need to find a source od food and water." 

"You see?" Stan pointed at Ford. "He's oblivious! Smart, but oblivious!" 

Fiddleford felt the need to explain. "There was a river we saw on the way here. Surely, if we retrace our steps, we can find it and then we have our source of water."

Ford grinned and they looked at the burned landscape in front of them, the once rich green trees turned to barren land and scorched burned in the Earth. It wasn't Gravity Falls anymore. It had all been destroyed. Reduced to dust and ashes at the hands of a wicked ruler. 

This careless act fuelled rage in the three men. Rage towards Bill and what he had turned Gravity Falls into without even the faintest flicker of remorse inside of him. They set foot the way they had come from on the journey to reunite with the rest of the citizens of Gravity Falls and reassure themselves that everybody else was safe.

_____________

Dipper prepared to make the jump. Nerves attacked him from all angles but he blocked them it with the strength of a reflective steel force field. Barely thinkng about anything but reaching his destination, he used the short runway of stairs he had before launching himself in the air, realizing he was going to fall short immediately. 

His arms began to flail in the air then, coming to his senses he stretched them out in front of him, aiming to catch the edge of the platform he was trying to land on. He caught it, the rest of his body hanging down below the platform. He resisted the temptation to look down and hoisted himself up and out of immediate danger only to be thrown into more uncertain danger. 

Possibly even worse than free falling to his death, depending on what mood he was in.

"Hey, Pine Tree. I knew you'd come here. You just can't resist being the hero of the story, can you? You're just like your Great Uncles. Yes, both of them. Always striving for some form of attention and praise in whatever you do. All you Pines are the same. Mabel, Ford, Stan. You're all the same. It disgusts me. You disgust me. 

The person in yellow stared at him in distate that, for some reason, made Dipper feel less than him. Worse than an evil demon who would burn civilisations and planets to the ground with the largest smile on his face at the drop of his black hat. 

Bill found pleasure in the suffering of others and in the rising flames of a once advanced world. He loved how he could morph old into new, that new being a world of pure insanity and rage. It was his utopia. Always has been, always will be. 

A thought that only a person afraid of fate crossed his mind and suddenly his self-awareness flared up, worried about what the demon of madness could have in store for him. What crazy test he'd have to take to leave with his life and body intact. 

But then again, for Gravity Falls. They were all counting on him. Especially Mabel. He promised Mabel he would return alive and well. He promised them all that. 

And he had no intention of letting them down...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider this a Christmas gift  
> Again, I don't know what to say.
> 
> Maybe I can keep this going somehow.  
> Commitment is a very difficult thing for me :(


	6. Living in a Fairytale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill talks to Dipper, trying to influence his thoughts and confidence with some level of success.

"So what are you going to do this time, Pine Tree?" The demon raised an eyebrow expectantly, crossing his arms and staring with ice cold eyes at Dipper. "Banish me to a burning dimension? Disintegrate me and scatter my molecular structure across the universe? Try your old tricks and wipe me from Stanley's head again?"

Dipper returned his gaze steadily, deciding that questioning how they were able to breathe so high up wasn't of importance at the moment. "We're going to stop you."

"Oh really, Pine Tree?" A booming laugh came from Bill, then abruptly stopped. He glided ever so slowly and ominously towards him, a devilish smirk riddled on his face. "You're going to stop me? And how do you plan on doing that this time around? Your sister already destroyed that memory erasing gun at your birthday party. Never thought that could come in handy again, did you?"

He opened his mouth to reply to this but was cut off.

"Don't even bother asking, I was there. You know you saw a golden glimmer in the crowd. No matter how much you didn't want to believe it or thought it was just a trick of the light, you knew, somewhere at the back of your tiny, narrow mind working so hard to remember it, I was there."

"Shut up, Bill! If we've defeated you before, we have the capabilities to defeat you again!" 

"But it wasn't you." Bill was only a few meters away from him, closing the gap inch by inch. "It was your Great Uncles. You didn't risk your life. You just watched them sacrifice themselves with a plan that was flawed. And where are they now, huh?" The boy's breath hitched slightly but he fought against the urge to show it. Unfortunately for him, Bill caught on it and sneered noticeably, making Dipper uncomfortable. "Oh, that's right. You don't know where they are."

"They're both fine. So is Fiddleford."

"Oh yeah, Fiddleford. Now, let's not forget Fiddleford." Bill said his name with disgust, like it left an unpleasant taste in his mouth just saying it. "He's just as bad as Stanford and Stanley. A Pine all the same. Guilty by association." 

He was a meter away now, whispering the words to the point where any quieter would whisk them away in the wind. He spoke with poisonous venom laced in his voice. 

"But you wanna know what the worse part of this is? You Pines are all so arrogant. So narcissistic, full of yourself and overbearing that you automatically assume you're going to come out victorious without even doubting yourself for a second. I have no where to go. I destroyed my homeworld and watched the flames flicker and swirl. The only way I can satisfy that aching pain is by watching others suffer the way I did. Let them know my hurt. My own sick form of sympathy." His eyes narrowed and a dull yellow light radiated from them. "Have you ever thought that there are other people in your situation and they don't go about it the same way? That they don't go around living in a fairytale where all dreams can come true when you sing an uplifting song. No, no no that changes nothing, Pine Tree. Nothing at all." Bill's voice swerved near the edge of mania. You know that. And you know why you know? Go on guess, Dipstick. Guess Smallpine."

Dipper didn't answer. Bill was right in front of him now.

"Yeah, I know you know. Because you've seen the effects with your own eyes. You've seen how you hurt your enemies are by your actions and enjoy it. You think you're the hero but you're no better than I am. How does that make you feel, being the same level as a demon? I bet you hate it. Because you know it's tru-" 

Dipper threw a punch at Bill, his arm being caught mid-movement. 

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" The light in his eyes shone brighter, almost fully shrouding his iris in yellow. "When you banished my soul in Stanley's head, I cast an ancient spell. One from millenniums before your generation. And now look who's back: the one and only! Sure the body's a little different but change can be... exploited, to say the least. I'm not the same person I was before, Pine Tree. So try your little traps and seemingly flawless schemes. I see things now. A little into the future. That's how I saw that punch you threw. Probably wouldn't have done anything if you hit me anyw-" 

He throws another punch, Bill this time disappears and reappears behind him, shoving Dipper to the ground then floating to his original place and sighing. "You just don't ever listen, do you? I'm taking this world, Dipper. I've been reborn from my previous form and time, with more abilities than that of before."

Now Dipper was walking backwards, completely unaware of the lack of surface behind him. Bill watched him with a smirk as he moved closer and closer to the edge. He foresaw this of course and knew all to well what was about to happen. 

"By the way, Pine Tree..." Only a few steps until he plunged to his death thousands of feet in the sky. You could mistake his eyes for flashlights with a new set of batteries restoring it to it's full power. For a second Dipper wondered if he was staring into the blaze of all of the worlds the now human dream demon had set light to. 

"Say hi to the second dimension for me."

Dipper realised a second too late what he meant. They were the last words Dipper heard before he stumbled over the edge, falling faster and faster by the second, limbs flailing as the ground grew and reached out to him. 


	7. The Hand of Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another row begins between two of the Mystery Trio, causing great strife to Fiddleford when they both split up.
> 
> Bill is a swindle, promising at first but a different untrustworthy beast behind the mask. Dipper doesn't realise the extent of the trouble he's about to cause.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my new years resolution is to overtag less which is a habit I've developed which is why there's a lot less tags than before
> 
> Also I sorta didn't know the characters section was meant for main characters :)
> 
> Anyway, here's a new and one day early chapter! Enjoy!

"Hey, Poindexter. If you can't even remember the lake we saw on the way here, how are you going to lead us there? I mean, Fids here was barely conscious at the time and he saw the lake. I saw it too. You missed it. Shouldn't one of us be leading the way?"

"Well, I'm the most experienced in this field. In the field." Stanford stopped for a second, tapping a few buttons on his watch and creating a blue holographic image above his wrist. It was a map of the surrounding area with a small compass in the top right corner. "You know, running between dimensions gives your a lot more experience that you'd think. Actually I-"

Stan scoffed. "Okay, okay we get it, Ford. You're just so much more qualified than we are, despite the fact that I've been living in your shack for over thirty _years_ with no fancy shmancy qualifications and somehow survived the crazy weirdness and creatures of this strange town! And I didn't even know stuff like that existed at the time!"

Fiddleford, though his body was now healthy and youthful, began to shiver and shake at the increasing hostility amount of the conversation. He spoke in that same, significantly weaker accent than before. "Hey, I think y'all shouldn't start any battl-"

Ford defended himself from his twin brother's accusations and cut off Fiddleford's words. When he tries to speak up again, a little louder and clearer this time, he is ignored by their row.

Their argument increases in volume, echoing through the forest and sending the surrounding animals fleeing in fear. A few brave, but weirdified, creatures stayed and watched on, as if they were in fascination by the two squabbling people and the desperately pleading individual.

At some point, Stan threw a punch at his brother, the initial suprise delaying Ford's response so he narrowly misses his first. When Fiddleford tries to break them apart, he is thrown to the ground by a stray punch or kick, deciding that, after being hit to the point of bruising so many times, he would try to verbally persuade them instead of physically prying them from each other's steel grip. 

Just as he was going to open his mouth to yell, they stopped abruptly, the hurricane of flying limbs halting. Ford and Stan stared at each other with hatred and slight disbelief, chests heaving from the rush of adrenaline they'd received during the fight. 

"You think you're so great? Well, why don't you go and find that stupid water source on your own. You just lost us two." 

"Fine!" Ford yelled back, a deer sent fleeing at the volume, "You two will perish here without me! I'm the only one who really knows how to navigate and survive in the wild off of nature. I know what's edible and what's not. I'm qualified for so many things-" 

"And we're back to the qualifications again! I've lived almost a decade longer than you have in that town so what right do you have to claim that you know it all better than I do!" 

"Because I'm experienced, aren't you listening?" 

"No, you don't listen. And you won't need to both about listening anymore because I'm going! Good luck on your own, Stanford." 

"And the same to you!" 

Ford and Stan stormed off in opposite directions, both furiously muttering insults under their breaths to each other and leaving a very torn Fiddleford in the middle 

What they had both somehow failed to see in the midst of their violent row was that the lake wasn't so far off, only through the trees beside them to be exact. 

And now that they'd both spit up, all of them without barely any survival-related tools but their own knowledge, suddenly making the chances of making it through Bill's torment and manipulate a lot more slim than before. 

Well, that was what the demon had probably wanted to do anyway...

__________

"So this is where we are now, huh?" Dipper face was still twisted in fear and his arms outstretched, then suddenly realised he was suspended above the ground. "We're at 100 feet, Pine Tree. I drop you now and..."

Dipper went through a free fall for a few seconds then was dragged by the invisible force back to his original place, this time upside down.

"Ha, oh how I love watching my enemies squirm. But you know what I love better?" Bill's voice heightened at the end of the sentence that only enforced Dippers fear of him.

"Watching them die horrifically!" The tone of the sentence was in excitement, sending a chill down his captive's spine. "It's even better when they're living off of false hope and leftovers."

"Bill! Let me go! When I escape we're going to get you! The whole town! We're all going to banish you for good."

Bill stared at him. "Pathetic."

For some reason that one word had snuck it's way into his mind, echoing and echoing in his head and weakening the barricades he held up. He didn't understand why Bill had gotten to him but had no desire to let him have what he wanted.

"Can't do anything yourself, can you? Running around this stupid little hick planet playing ghost hunters, no no." He started to gesture frantically, "'Paranormal Investigator'. Believing in things you don't even begin understand and having full judgement in what happens to them. You can't even comprehend what our motives are with that one-sided mind of yours can you?"

" 

For the first time Dipper could remember, Bill stood on the ground and crossed his arms, one of his hands rested on his chin in thought. He turned around and walked on one of the crystal steps Dipper had stood on before. The demon stared up at the gold and bright blue sky then grinned.

Bill turned back again, his eyes giving the impression he was looking down on Dipper. "You don't know what you're getting involved with, kid. My power goes beyond comprehension and now the abilities I had are tenfold."

"What do you want from me? To kill me? Rip my soul out and devour it? Rewire my organs?"

"I like the thought process. That you think so diabolically of me, but no. Pine Tree, if I wanted to slaughter every insignificant civilians in this joke of a town, I would have already done so. I don't need you alive, but I chose to. And besides..."

His voice had a strange graveness and gave Dipper the sense that this was an omen rather than a warning. "It's no fun having a Doll's House if there's nothing to play with. Toy people are fun to play with, but well, the dolls you no longer find useful... Well, I think we all know what happens to that toy." 

Bill's voice returned to it's natural pitch of terrifying enthusiasm. "But regardless, I could always rid of the 'less useful' humans of this town in those ways. It would be quite the height of excitement for me. Of course, I would begin with ridding the world of it's filth with you Pines." In a matter of seconds, Bill's childish attitude turned stone serious. The way he could completely flip his personality scared Dipper. The fear of the unknown and how he couldn't quite predict his movements when they were of such an erratic nature.

"Anyway, let's cut to the chase. You need something and I need something. There's no other looking at it. You need to feed your friends to survive and I..." Bill trailed off and crossed his arms again, raising his head to the spirals of blue and yellow in the sky. 

Dread grew inside of Dipper and suddenly wondered what unthinkable Hell he wanted to rain down on Gravity Falls with the power this deal could reward him with. "What?" 

"We all have our needs and wants, Dipper and while we won't always get what we want some things in life can be... flexible you could say." He clicked his fingers, a sapphire blue flame rising and engulfing his hand. 

"I can never get my homeworld back as infuriating as it was to live in it. My whole family was lost in the embers I willingly created. Unless, that is, you are willing to make a deal." Bill moved towards him and extended a hand, the blue flame sizzling and flickering. Dipper looked up at him in disgust and balled his hands into fists, pointing with hatred at the maniac. 

"I know better than to make a deal with you! After what you did to me last time? You think I'm still going to fall for that trick?"

Dipper thought it over for a moment, considering what dark twist there was to this wish. The Cipher family could all be like him. Ruthless criminals who are selfish and want the world only in their image, mercilessly killing those who chose to defy their reign. A perfect team for world domination. 

But, on the other hand, he could truly have relatives he regretted letting die. That somewhere in the twisted, manipulative and corrupt mind lay a tiny segment of remorse for what he'd done. But regret was a very human quality. Dipper could imagine that the corrupt soul of Bill had any ounces of humanity even if he was a dream demon. 

Obviously, Dipper knew how dangerous it could be to risk such things, finding more reasons to refuse the deal than to accept it. Bill had an unreadable expression upon his features, making Dipper unsure as to what he should believe. He was surprised he was even considering a deal with the demon unworthy of a molecule of trust. 

"No, I absolutely do not want to make a deal with you. You could be plotting to disintegrate this world just like your own with the help of your deceased family!" 

All of Dipper's words came out in a hiss and send a dagger through Bill's heart, being caught off guard by his sudden change in character. Quickly, he hid the shock in rage and extinguished the flame ,slowly drifting away from him and towards the sky, eyes trained on the boy the whole time. 

"I gave you a chance, Dipper. A chance to take food back to your people. A shot at survival. An opportunity to co-exist. You blew it, kid. You blew it. You let it slip right past you. You think I need you alive pfft, that's wishful thinking." 

Dipper could most mistake the strengthening golden light in his eyes to be dripping, like ice turning to water. Like false superiority turning to tears. 

"No deal, no product, Pine Tree. Remember that.." With that last phrase he disappeared in a golden shine and Dipper fell to the ground, falling near to a hundred feet than landing on a tall purple tree, spinning through the branches like he were in a pinball machine, then collapsing to the ground, the impact shooting pain to his head. 

Somehow he managed escaping with nothing but a few scratches and a headache even if that was hardly the most miraculous event to happen today. Getting up on all fours, he looked towards the colourful sky of blended colours.

The sky... 

_Why was he fixated on the sky?_

__

There wasn't anything to it, really. Or at least, nothing he'd read or seen in the three Journals. Just two colours, beautifully mixed with each other to create a wonderful contrast of hues. 

__

It was... Mesmerising. Enticing. Beautiful. 

__

No. 

__

It wasn't any of those things. 

__

It shouldn't be mesmerising, nor enticing, nor beautiful 

__

It should be a canvas of weirdness, born from tricks, indoctrination and traps painted tentatively on it to confuse the observer by none other than the devil himself. 

But it wasn't. That wasn't the impression he got. 

He admired the madness that tore down his family's town and rebuilt it in the image of a demon. 

He admired the destruction and chaos. 

A thought swirled around his mind like a photograph in a hurricane until it was brought to focus. 

Maybe Bill was right about the Pines. About him. 

That all the Pines, the whole family regardless of their differences, were the same. 

Just a group of selfish, cynical and show-off people wanting to be the admired and flawless hero of the story. Always the center of attention. 

That's how it seemed, the more he thought about past events. The way Ford built a portal to another dimension through frustration that there were things he still didn't understand about Gravity Falls, putting countless lives at stake when he did so. When he nearly let Bill into this world. 

You could nearly say he deserved it, being thrown into the portal. Maybe it was the universe's strange way of keeping the balance between the good and the bad. Practically being banished from his home then having to run away and fight so many dangers, then punching the person who's fought for so long to bring him back. 

Ford wasn't the great mentor Dipper saw him as. He recognised so many points in his life that could be made to support what he started to believe. 

That Stanford, a Pine as much as he was, was a narcissistic person who barely cared for the people around him, always craving reward and notice, constantly wanting the world to evolve around him at whatever cost.

If he didn't know any better, he could almost say that both Stanford Pines, his beloved Grunkle and Author of the Journals he loved so much and Bill the dream demon who burned cities to the ground for entertainment were the same person...


	8. Hopeless and Guilty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fiddleford desperately searches for the Stan Twins, night falling quicker than he'd like.
> 
> Bill has been hiding for a near decade below ground, scheming and scheming.  
> All he needs now is the piece that combines it all.
> 
> Dipper returns to the camp, a different person to the one he was before Bill spoke to him.

"Ford? Stan? Where are you?" It was pointless. He'd been yelling for a near five minutes and his voice was growing dry from overuse.

They'd both gone in opposite directions, Fiddleford deciding to look for Stan first. Night had stared to fall upon them, the forest of weirdness looking a lot more dangerous when you began to think that anything could be hiding in the shadows. Bill could be hiding in the shadows, or a new, madder beast ready to swallow him whole. 

Paranoia began to set in, Fiddleford keeping a close eye on the area around him. Tiredness had also worked it's way into his system, the trees blurring and merging together in his mind as he trudged on. He would have to sleep at some point and pray dearly that he wouldn't be killed in that state. That Bill wouldn't take advantage of his vulnerability and perform whatever shenanigans he intended to do. 

But it would probably do him more harm to wait until daylight to sleep, most things being awake and active, ready to spring and attack him. Nocturnal creatures roamed the night, making everything look like something from a horror film, the build up to the summit of the story. 

Minutes after that thought he sat below a dark purple tree with fluorescent light-blue leaves shaking vigorously like it was afraid of what it's creator had done. When he learnt against it, it was freezing cold, neutralising with his body heat to become a temperature that wasn't hot nor cold. 

As he learnt his whole weight against the tree his eyes began to close in blissful sleep, going off of only hope to help him survive the night. His last vision was of the star-saturated night sky, seeing a blue comet-like triangle appear behind his eyes then disappear as abruptly as it came, a trail of teal left in its wake as the last evidence it had even existed. The last evidence he wasn't hallucinating and slowly reverting back to his madness-driven way. 

With that last vision he drifted off and into rest... 

_______________

The room was freezing cold on his sensitive, newly nerve-enfused skin, like he was trapped in a glacier, but none of that matted to Bill at the moment. What was important right now were only two things, the Pines and his plan. The threat and the future. The antagonist and his intentions. Boards and papers were all over the walls, measurements, notes and complex equations crowding their once blank white spaces. The demon was planning something. Something big. Something he had meant to do for a long time now.

It was long, long overdue and he intended to complete his personal assignment. Soon.

But despite his most persevering efforts, nothing he tried could generate the great masses of power he needed for it. Not even his own new abilities. 

His gaze slid over to the gauge, watching the energy readings flinch between zero and a small fraction of what he needed. The furthest it had ever gotten was a little less than halfway. Bill tapped it, patience beginning to wear thin from the half a decade spent perfecting his idea. It had been years since he found this place to stow away and still he couldn't find anything in the world that could bring him what he needed. Electricity, high-voltage lightning bolts, barely any energy from them. Not even Uranium could do the trick.

And besides, the power of deals could only reach so far. The Government Agency had been extremely promising with theirs, trading knowledge for nuclear power. If only he had known how useless it would be wasting his time on needy humans in the long run.

Still, there must be something he's missing. Earth was suprisingly advanced but not beyond any other civilisations he'd left at mercy. Bill sighed and sat in a wooden chair, resting his chin on his palms. For a while he stared at a tube about the size of his own arm and as wide as two golf balls. Inside of it was a dull white liquid resembling a cordial, just barely see through. 

He placed his index on the side of it, a gold liquid glowing in the darkness with small specks of blue growing inside of it and mixing to create a beautiful contrast of hues. Bill momentarily admired the colours and then set it down on the shambolic desk in front of him, observing the blue shrinking back gradually into the yellow and then turning to it's neutral translucent white colour again. 

It was one of his most valuable belongings. Not valuable in coins (maybe it would be in this dimension) but in a sentimental way. He remembered how he'd found the liquid in the first place and then took it home in a bottle, heading straight to his room and closing the door behind him. It was one of the... 'more acceptable' features of his homeworld, as he often called it, the way it moved never ceasing to capture Bill in a trance. 

Anyway, enough about all that. He had some energy to locate. 

Nuclear power was helpful when it wasn't escaping and giving you every illness in the book or blowing you to pieces. It was relatively reliable and produced a lot of energy from a single Uranium core. But he'd tried Uranium and knew that it wasn't enough.

He needed something else...  
Something stronger and ten times the strength.  
Maybe even something supernatural.

And lucky for him, he knew more to the unearthly than anyone else on this planet did...

_______________

As he dragged himself to the makeshift camp the town had created, both empty handed and downcast, Dipper felt great shame in returning at all. They were all counting on him to protect and help them. Mabel more than others. 

The blue jacket he wore so often was decorated in shallow rips from the free-fall he'd endured and his hair was a complete mess. And what had he gotten out of this ordeal? Nothing but being manipulated by a demon, destroyed his only set of clothes in the Weirdness Arena and let all of Gravity Falls down.

If the stakes weren't high before, they definitely were now. 

Dread threatened to consume and overwrite his actions the closer he moved to the camp, Dipper's legs scraping against the dirt floor behind him. He'd at least kept one promise today. He assured Mabel that he would return to her and so he was doing now, even if he'd failed his initial mission to bring food back to them. As his field of vision revealed a light cloud of smoke from above the oddly coloured trees, Dipper could only begin to imagine what they had all began to eat during desperate measures. 

Passing through the maze of trees, he saw an open field with civilians moving around with barely any motivation. Lazy Susan was the first to spot him and yelled with newly found hope, Mabel running and throwing herself into his arms. She tightly wrapped her arms around Dipper and let forth an entire lake's worth of tears.  
Dipper couldn't help but feel guilty. 

"I was so worried about you! We were all worried about you! What happened to you you look horrible!""

"I saw Bill." 

Mabel jumped back at the mention of the demon's name, hands flying to her mouth and eyes widening in terror as if it gave her an electric shock just by the sound. "Did he try to hurt you?!" 

"I don't know how I didn't see it before but Great Uncle Ford's told us everything. If only I'd read between the lines and recognised who he really is..." 

"What... what do you mean? What did Bill say to you?" 

"Ford is not who we think he is. We are not who we think we are." Turning away from her, Dipper's face darkened and staring into the pitch-black sky he told her in a hushed voice barely above a whisper. "The whole Pines family, we're all frauds..."


	9. Red Pill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wendy and Dipper talk about the state of Gravity Falls
> 
> Fiddleford finds Stan but not the one he was intending to find. He discovers something much darker.

"So, what's the plan?" Wendy sat calmly in the tree, staring at the people milling about below. The wind was unnaturally still as another day was born in the Weirdness Arena.

Dipper was on a branch diagonal to hers, leaning against the tree. "We need to bring down Bill," he pauses, recollecting his words and structuring his sentence carefully. "We all need to bring down Bill."

"You know I'm all for it, Dipper but," Her arms cross. "I wouldn't put too much faith in the others."

"But Wendy, how will we stop him if we don't join forces? We need to beat him and stop him before he destroys anything beyond the boundaries of this town. Before he takes his plans worldwide."

"Dipper, you left when summer ended. We never really rebuilt that well the first time around. Now he's back and you think that people will risk themselves to defeat him? We got lucky! He let his guard down once and only because of his own greed. He'll be expecting the traps." With the last sentence a quiet rumble rings out and Wendy groans. "Food's getting short. Not sure how much longer we can all hold out. It's a miracle no-one's... you know..."

The boy huffs and buries his face in his hands. He knew it wouldn't be as easy this time around and Bill was much stronger. He could see into the future! How could they plan any traps if he could see them happening before they took place? If he'd had that ability before they would have had no chances of escaping Bill. Who's to say they had any better chance now? 

Wendy moves to climb down the tree, her hands reaching down to grab the branch and swing herself below it. "I think I should go and try to chop some more wood. Sure they're all purple and weird but what's new? We just need to get on with things. Try and survive." 

With a thud she's landed on the ground and stood up straight. Wendy walks and waves without turning around. "See ya, Dipper." 

He mumbles a reply and takes a breath, thinking over what had happened. 

They all knew Bill wasn't to be trusted. He knew more dirty tricks than the universe put together and was manipulative at ease. Doing anything against him would certainly be difficult with his new powers and now Dipper wasn't even sure if anyone wanted to try fighting Bill. 

His mind went back to what Bill had told him. About his family. Surely he wasn't so weak that he so easily believed the demon who laid waste to his town. So gullible that he barely made an efforts to decide against it. 

I'm inside your head, kid.

But somewhere deep beneath the resentment was a strangely soft patch of sympathy. Towards Bill's point of view. The death of everyone he knew and knowing you were responsible. 

...I have no where to go. I destroyed my homeworld and watched the flames flicker and swirl... 

That didn't mean he had to destroy the rest of the universe to ease his rage. Make other people suffer for his entertainment. 

...My own sick form of sympathy...

Dipper looks to the burning sun raining violet colours on the citizens and could almost swear he saw a single strand of blue. A drop of supressed sadness amongst the bright and happy surface. It disappeared again and he jumped from the tree, dismissing it as a trick of the light. Much like he'd done before with the brief golden glint he'd caught in the corner of his eye on his 13th birthday in Gravity Falls. The original Gravity Falls. 

Now, however, wasn't the time to dwell on the past. He had a whole town to prepare for battle. Last time they had gotten lucky, a quick quirk of fate saving them from Bill's clutches but now they needed a foolproof plan. 

And with that thought, he realised the reason why he believed that Bill would be near impossible to defeat this time.

_______________

Dragging himself up, he stretched his limbs and rubbed his eyes that were blinded by the sun's great shine. He was alive. That's good. Well, maybe not in Bill's eyes but he's alive so that's got to be something. 

No supplies or anything too. He was surviving and doing well. Fiddleford looked around him. Everything seemed to be the same as it was before apart from the time which put Fiddleford at ease knowing nothing had disturbed him during his slumber. 

His goal for today was to try and find one of the Stan Twins. Considering he had turned left, it would mean he was following Stanley's path. Judging by the sun's position it was nearing midday, or maybe not. He had no idea how time worked in Bill's world. For all he knew it could be nighttime and he wouldn't know it. 

He set off in his direction, wary of creatures that could possibly be lurking nearby. Before too long he'd been walking for an hour, growing bored of it when suddenly he could hear something like distant speaking. 

Gingerly, he walked closer while relying on the trees as a way of hiding himself. Fiddleford listened and could make out two different voices. 

Two voices? he mused Maybe they found each other and are working things out. 

The closer he went the louder the voices became, realising that only one voice belonged to a Stan, the other to an enemy they all knew much too well. 

But what could Bill be doing here? And speaking to Stanford? 

"You're not like the others, IQ. You're above them. You're knowledge superior and skill ten times as better." 

"Even if you're correct, that doesn't mean I need anything from you!" 

Bill sighs. "Like great uncle, like great-nephew, huh. You wanna know something, Pines?" Stanford glared steadily at him with eyes that were ready to burn like a laser straight through his soul. When he didn't reply, Bill continued, pressing for a reaction. 

"The strength of words is severely underrated. The amount of damage you can do with just a few words is truly a-ma-zing. One phrase can bring down a whole Government, true story. Just knowing this fact is so-" 

Ford's voice was laced with resentment and a form of irritation. "Get to the point Cipher." 

"Oh, so eager. I talked to your great-nephew. We had a right chat. Nothing to worry about. Just regular maintenance." 

"What have you been up to this time? Tell me he didn't make a deal with you." 

"Not important-" 

"If you've done something to Dipper I swear I'll break your neck." 

"I'll break yours first." Says Bill, smirking and raising his eyebrows slightly. "And you know that that is a promise. Besides, I bet you've gone soft! Breaking necks? Is that what the town sees you as? Thought we really had something back when you had the guts to get your hands dirty, but now? What are you? A family-man? Business keeper?" He leans closely, hissing at Ford. "A coward?" 

Ford's eyes widen in realisation. "What did you tell Dipper about me?" 

"I told him who you really are." States Bill like it's the most obvious thing in the world. 

"Then who really am I?" 

"Oh, you." He chuckles lowly. "It's like you don't know." 

"Who really am I?" He repeats in the same robotic tone as before. 

"The usual. Worthless. Pathetic. That hiding under all that false-pride and heroic image you've painted for yourself is nothing but a praise-craving, narcissistic monster. I would even go as far to compare you as an equal to..." Closer he moves until his mouth is beside Ford's ear, the man never flinching out of shame that he would be caught doing so. "A demon." 

He swings at Bill, the demon twisting in such a way that he missed him completely and was thrown to the ground, coloured dirt covering his clothes. 

"Woah, I didn't think those useless genes would survive so long. I mean, two generations? I thought they'd be, you know, somewhat diluted but nope." He brushes himself of exaggeratedly and straightens his tie. "Still going strong. You know, Pine Tree did the exact same thing as you. When I called him pathetic. But, news to your ears at least - I didn't kill him or anything. 'Not the children, don't hurt the children' and such. You should be thankful I didn't tell him anything of the other things. I'm a demon with enough decency to keep that from them and you know you're lucky." 

Stanford scrambles to stand up, stumbling as he does so and only managing to get to his knees in the end. "So, do we have a deal?" Bill shrugs like he's innocent, like he's just helping an old friend out. "It's obvious you're struggling and we can't deny that we both want something." 

Fiddleford gasped at the mention of a deal especially from Bill's mouth. Still, he had no idea what either of them were agreeing to. What madness that was about to be unleashed with the shake of two hands. Peeking through the branches of a bush he saw the demon's arm encased in a bright and lively sapphire flame. 

Stanford extended his hand into his without hesitation, still on his knees from the fall. 

"Yes," the man confirmed, "We have a deal."


	10. Progression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping capture he runs, unsure of how far he'll get until his Masters both catch up to him.
> 
> Bill holds up his side of the deal but Stanford is hesitant to hold up his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a little while but it's done now.  
> Enjoy :D

Black shoes hit the ground, running as far as he could carry himself to some level of safety. He'd escaped. For the first time in years he'd escaped and now the elements embraced him, the wind clawing at his face making a cold shudder spread through him.

It wouldn't be long before they would be searching for him so the further the got from them, the better. Years of torment and weakness brought him here, running for his life. 

And it was liberating. 

How long had it been since he wasn't confined to four walls? Since he ran without restriction? Since he was freed from being a captive?

Clearly too long.

But over time he had been getting stronger and stronger as they became complacent, underestimating what he could do. Careful planning to the tiniest of details brought him to execute his great escape. It was successful, it was just a matter of how long for. 

He'd chosen the stroke of midnight to leave. Usually they were busy around then. Preparing for the next show. Preparing for more slaughter and so on. Their sick form of entertainment that people unknowingly paid to watch.

At some point he would be found again, thrown into the same four walls and chains repaired and reinforced to stop a repeat of this happening again. 

But for now he'll run as far away as he can manage. Even if he needs to escape the boundaries of Buoyancy Rises, aka Reverse Falls and to the opposite side of the universe to save himself. That day may not be today. 

But one day he would be ready. 

Will Cipher would be ready. 

_______________

"It's a Warp Star. A small crystal with an extremely disproportionate explosion inside just waiting to be activated. One of the only two that exist in this dimension. Lucky I've got both. Wouldn't want this getting into the wrong hands." 

For a moment, he thought about it. Bill needed something with a strength beyond the reaches of this world for sure but to mess with something with the ability to explode could ultimately get him killed before he could complete his plans. But that was just the risk he had to take. 

"I think that's what I need." Bill said, mentally planning how he could use it. Hearing this, Ford froze in his tracks as a wave of regret washed over him. 

With a voice as level as he could muster and his back to the demon-human, he asked. "What would you want it for?" 

"I have my reasons, IQ."

"With an explosion that powerful however, you could destroy..." Ford turns around, eyes wide. "An entire town. All of Gravity Falls burning because you got your hands on this." 

"Believe me or not I'm not looking to explode the universe or whatever diabolical plan you think I'm executing."

"No, I don't believe you and I'm right to! There must be another thing you want. Anything else. You can take the Infinity Sided dice. It's outlawed in thousands of galaxies. Surely it's something you'd want." 

Taking a single look around the room at all the souvenirs Ford collected during his dimension-jumping days, objects both big and small of all different colours, Bill's eyes met Ford's again. 

"The Warp Star." Repeated Bill. 

He covered his hand over the Warp Star and held it towards himself. "I won't give it to you." 

"Stanford, I remember saying, and I quote, 'I want one of your other-dimensional souvenirs'. This is from another world. I never asked for a specific item therefore I can take this." With the last sentence Bill smiled, knowing he was correct. 

Another wave of regret flew over him again and Stanford looked at the small crystal capable of so much more shining in his palm. If he didn't give Bill the Warp Star then he wouldn't uphold his side of the deal. Then how could he be sure that Gravity Falls was safe from the danger of Bill? 

Muttering just loud enough so Bill could hear, he told him. "You're twisting my words again..." 

"Just give me the Warp Star, Stanford. Give it to me and I won't hurt your precious great grandkids. Give it to me and your friends in Gravity Falls won't be hurt by me. Give it to me and there will be no more damage to your family." He added under his breath, "No matter how much you may deserve it."

Ford looked for a final time at the gem and held his palm for Bill to take it from him, mentally cursing himself for taking such risks. Bill's face wore the expression of pure joy and hastily he took the Warp Star from Stanford. Putting it to a stray ray of light and watching it sparkle, he started to chuckle and then left abruptly. 

Stanford, staring aimlessly at the area Bill once stood in, questioned whether making a deal with Bill and agreeing to give him something that could facilitate his plans was right. After all he had helped a demon. A demon who was no better than the devil themself. 

_______________

Bill, now powered by the emotion enthusiasm, swiftly moved his hands over the hundreds of buttons and switches around him. The Warp Star might just be the last piece of the puzzle he needed. 

But that final piece of the puzzle was one that might just break the boundary between worlds if ever completed. How close he was to slotting it all together much like a complex machine where all components, from the smallest screw to the largest unit clicked together and worked in unison to carry out their purpose. 

The meter moved halfway. 

Only halfway?

He slammed his hands balled tightly into fists onto the wooden desk in a fit of rage, the table shaking under the force and a few pieces of paper fluttering to the ground beside him. 

His eyes fell on the cylinder now a dull yellow colour and he held it in his hands, watching the golden light grow. 

A warmth spread through him and filtered into his system, leaving a soothing effect over him. Bill held it closer, not noticing the red hues mixing with the blue and yellow making a strange galaxy effect in the tube. 

...One of the only two that exist in this dimension...

Wait. 

...Lucky I've got both...

All he needed was to get the second Warp Star from Stanford and he would have enough energy. But the chances of making another deal with Stanford were slim. 

He would just have to make a deal with someone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the Warp Star most definitely is a Doctor Who reference.  
> Yes, the tube is Bill Cipher's version of a stress ball  
> Yes, Stanford is an idiot but we've always known that  
> Yes, Will Cipher is in this fic you can get excited now


End file.
